1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to an earphone device that can be introduced into an auditory canal, having a speaker device with a sound exit opening. The present invention is particularly directed to such an earphone device with a cerumen protection system that protects it against invasive cerumen.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Due to the production of cerumen in the ear canal, outages of hearing aids or damage to the electro-acoustic transducers thereof occur for hearing aid wearers due to blockage of the acoustic channel. The chemically aggressive cerumen is composed of gaseous, fluid and nearly solid constituents. Protection against cerumen is therefore desirable that is able to prevent (to the extent possible) penetration of cerumen into the sound channel while being easy to clean despite contamination that has penetrated.
A number of cerumen protection solutions are available in the hearing aid market. There are a number of solutions that mechanically prevent penetration of cerumen and assure a good ability to clean the sound channel. Open-pore membranes also are utilized but these must leave the acoustic properties of the hearing aid nearly uninfluenced. These, however, have the disadvantage that gaseous and fluid constituents can penetrate or at least plug the cerumen protection system. This results in that immediate cleaning or a replacement being required.
Other cerumen protection systems employ absolutely tight membranes that are typically arranged at the tip of the hearing aid shell the side thereof facing toward the tympanum of such membranes, for assuring the least possible acoustic attenuation, exhibit less of a good mechanical stability and a structural size that cannot be ignored and that can lead to problems in the manipulation and in the supply rate given small canal devices. For good acoustic transmission properties, the membrane should be nearly without mass, i.e. it should exhibit an extremely small wall thickness, and also should have a large area.
German Patent 199 08 854 discloses an auditory canal insert for hearing aid devices in this context. The auditory canal insert has a sound channel, a cerumen protector being arranged in front of its sound channel opening facing toward the tympanum. The cerumen protector is composed of a sound-transmissive membrane injected into a core of the hearing aid insert. This cerumen protection system, however, is uncomfortable to use.